Kodomo no Omacha
by Rebecca Pierce
Summary: When she disappeared, things took a major dive for the worse. Mysteriously trapped and alone, the remaining titans must now discover a dark and painful secret that hid behind violet eyes and a child’s cry. Xover
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** This story has** no** religious attatchment or opinions from the author and is **not** meant to offend anyone If you are, I apologize ahead of time. There is a crossover in this which will become evident soon enough, but in order for the story to work, this (in my opinion) must be added for later reference to the reader. I do not know where exactly this will lead, but I have a general idea. :) So any questions are welcomed. I don't guarantee I'll answer though. . . As for this, I will update when I get a chance.

Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the ride.

**Kodomo no Omocha**

**Prologue**

_In the beginning, people had nothing. Their bodies ached, and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came. They despaired, stuck in the eternal quagmire.  
_

_A man offered a serpent to the sun and prayed for salvation. A woman offered a reed to the sun and asked for joy. Feeling pity for the sadness that had overrun the earth, God was born from these two people.  
_

_God made time and divided it into day and night. God outlined the road to salvation and gave people joy. And God took endless time away from the people.God created beings to lead people in obedience to Her. The red God, Xuchilbara, the yellow God, Lobsel Vith, along with many other Gods and angels. Finally God set out to create Paradise, where people would be happy just by being there.  
_

_But there, God's strength ran out, and she collapsed. All the world's people grieved this unfortunate event, yet God breathed Her last. She returned to the dust, promising to come again._

_And her people waited . . ._

_Wait . . ._

_And continue to wait._

_For one day, she will return . . ._

_And paradise will be their reality._


	2. Light

_**A/N**_: _Kodomo no Omacha_ means child's plaything in Japanese :)

**_Ch. 1- Light_**

"_The thorny light of awakening will bring only anguish to one in your state. Turn from the light. Shut your eyes...Here, blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal."_

_"voice", __Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"FOR THERE TO BE DARKNESS, THERE MUST BE LIGHT!" The crazed look in his eyes was aimed at Raven, jumps of static electricity playing amongst his being. He threw a series of bolts at Raven, anger surging through him as he watched her dodge them all.

"Wrong." Raven stated calmly. "You can't understand the light or the darkness if you've never fought on either side. You're just a shadow claiming to be the light!"

She closed her eyes slowly. As she opened them once more, her normal eyes were gone. The white outline of her magic was the only real revelation of her change as she walked towards Dr. Light.

"You can't scare me this time! I'm not afraid of you anymore, AH!" He threw bolt after bolt of light at her. He didn't stop as a cloud of smoke indicated contact of his magic with something tangible. Instead, this served to goat him on, his anger and hatred fueling every attack until he was sure that there would be no remain of the titan.

Everything was silent as he waited, the smoke clearing slowly as his confidence trickled back.

She couldn't have. . .

The smoke finally cleared completely, revealing nothing but burn marks on the concrete where his attacks had hit.

Where. . . ?

"You don't understand . . ."

His eyes widened at the sound of her voice, bolts instantly forming at his hands. The echoes died away, silence once again consuming the empty warehouse. His voice was strong as he spoke to the darkness surrounding him.

"Darkness-"

"Azarath. . ."

"-wasn't meant to be understood!"

"Metrion. . ."

"It's just meant to be-"

"ZINTHOS!"

"-de-"

His last word was never completed, and his body never found.


	3. Build

**Ch. 2- Build**

_Each day is a building block to the future. Who I am today is dependent on who I was yesterday._

_-Matthew McConaughey_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Violet eyes opened slowly, empty and reflecting the sun's bright light.

"_What happened!"_

The breeze caressed her short lilac hair, the locks playing joyfully amongst themselves like small children.

"_Raven, where is he!"_

She sat calmly, looking out to the shining sea as her magic kept her aloft over the ground.

"_WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!"_

**XXXXXXXXX**

Robin paced the room frantically, Starfire not too far behind as she tried in vain to calm him.

"Dude, what's the big deal? I mean, she took care of it, right?" Beast Boy leaned on his crossed arms. He was comfortably lounged backwards on the couch, using its back as a rest for his arms.

"It's not that that worries me," Robin stopped pacing, crossing his arms as a frown overtook his features. "It's just that . . . you guys have seen what she's capable of, right? I mean, after the incident with the dragon, and the time her fear took over, I have a hunch that she did something to Dr. Light that she didn't mean to."

"I am absolutely sure that Raven would do no such thing," Starfire stated firmly. "She is in control of herself."

"Yeah. I know that Star. But her magic has been out of control lately."

"She's probably just stressed from all the fightin' we've had to do," Cyborg said calmly, shrugging. "I mean, she really hasn't had any time to meditate or whatever she does, right?"

"Cyborg is right. Raven must be in need of some 'alone time,'" Star added, putting a reassuring hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Doesn't she get enough of that?" Beast Boy asked with a frown. Starfire glared at him, Beast Boy chuckling nervously.

"What we believe to be 'enough' might not agree with what she believes."

"Well, I say we lay off and give her a break. Besides, we deserve one too, don't we?" Cyborg plopped down on the couch, waving the controller as he looked up at the others expectantly. Robin still looked hesitant.

"Raven is one of us. She would never do anything without a just reason. Please, understand Robin, that she will always be our friend." Starfire locked gazes with him, smiling. "No matter what mistakes we make, we will always be a team."

Robin nodded, but his instincts screamed otherwise as he gave in for the moment. "Yeah. I guess."


	4. Reflection

**A/N: If you would like some backstage info on this story, check out my bio, which I'll update every time I upload a new chapter for any of my three stories.**

**Disclaimer: The Teen Titans belongs to their owners and the future series that the crossover will occur with also doesn't belong to Rebecca Pierce.**

**Ch. 3- Reflection**

**XXXXXX**

_Like the proverbial pebble dropped into a still pond, the shifts of consciousness we make in our personal lives send out tiny but important waves that ripple over the surface of the whole._

_-Shakti Gawain_

_**XXXXXX**_

_I feel like this is all just a repeat of what Terra did. She was confused and powerful . . . a mix that was deadly both to her and those that loved her._

_But now that I sit down to think, Raven has many similarities that may be right in our faces. Many similarities that might explain Dr. Light's disappearance; and why Raven hasn't spoken to us since then._

_Something was triggered. Something . . . something which might be the end of our questions._

_But the beginning of something we shouldn't have begun._

**XXXXXX**

He knocked on the door for the fifth time, sighing as he waited.

"What?" He snapped back from his thoughts, taking an unconscious step back from the large gray door.

"Uh, it's me Raven. Can we talk?" He could tell that Raven was coming. The door opened fully, Raven's hood down for once. Nonetheless, her violet eyes still revealed nothing.

"Come in." The invitation surprised him, but he did as told and stood by her bed as she sat down on the edge. A fleeting thought of amusement passed through his mind as he recalled that the last time he had been in her room had been during the incident with Malchior.

"Okay, Robin. You have my attention." This snapped him back to reality, scrutinizing her calm demeanor with growing nervousness of his own. She was too calm.

But instead of voicing his thoughts on the matter, he simply voiced his thoughts on the matter he had come for in the beginning.

"Well, for starters, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I acted like a complete jerk to you." Raven shook her head. He clamped his mouth shut, more out of shame than anything else. For some reason, the smile she gave him was not that reassuring. The Cheshire Cat from the old Alice in Wonderland tales suddenly came to mind . . .

"Trust me, Robin, you have nothing to apologize for. Your anger with me's normal. I understand that you don't want a repeat of when we met. And I'm putting forward everything I can to stop it."

"Thanks for understanding, Rae." She nodded with a small, more honest, smile.

"No problem. Anything else?" He hesitated, seemed to think better of it, and finally forced the nagging question out.

"Yeah. I. . . . I just wanted to ask what happened to Dr. Light. I won't get mad if you don't tell me, but . . . it would be nice to know." Raven looked up at him strangely, then glanced at her bureau.

"I think you're better off not knowing where he went."

"Okay." Robin replied with a calm nod. "I understand."

He turned, the door opening as Raven broke the silence. "Robin?"

The Boy Wonder turned expectantly, noticing the sorrow in her gaze. "I'm sorry."

Her gaze was sincere.

Robin shrugged. "Whatever happens, you're not alone. We're here to train and help save the city, but most of all to learn alongside each other as a team and to help each other. You of all of us should know that the best."

Raven nodded.

The door hissed open, Robin standing there for a second as an idea came to mind. Turning, he smiled.

"Well, if you want to join us for a movie, we'll be in the den." He noticed the hesitance in her eyes as she weighed out her options.

"Maybe later." She finally replied with a small smile. "I have too many things on my mind right now." The Boy Wonder nodded, knowing that pushing her into the open now would only antagonize her.

"Okay. Maybe later then."

"Yeah." Raven whispered. "Maybe."


	5. Awakening

**Ch.4: Awakening**

_"It is time now for us to rise from sleep."_

_ Saint Benedict_

XXXXXXXX

Awakening to the shock of Titan Tower rumbling and her strong joints complaining was not what Robin expected at a little past three in the morning. It was so sudden and so strong, that he could feel it shake him to the core as he scrambled to get up.

And then suddenly. . .

It stopped.

XXXXXXX

"Is everyone okay!" Starfire yelped as Robin's voice broke through the silence of her room. The Tamaranean teen grabbed her communicator, putting a hand over her chaotic heart and taking a deep breath to soothe her frayed nerves.

"Robin?" The silent question was answered automatically.

"I'm fine. Star, where's the others?"

"Present and accounted for!" Starfire smiled in relief as Beast Boy's voice broke through the conversation.

"Good," Robin's calmer voice replied, "Titans, I'll meet you in the den."

XXXXXXXX

Starfire was the first to reach the den, surprised at how undamaged everything seemed.

Instead of the broken sink with shooting water she expected, the usual bunch of unbroken dishes awaiting to be washed met her emerald eyes. And the large bullet, laser, and canon proof bay window seemed unfazed by the happenings of the tower's foundations a moment before. The only true revelation that anything at all had happened, was the dust that now lined the large den couch and countertops.

There was no doubt though, that everything was as it had been left the night before.

"Weird." She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Cyborg's voice.

"Whoa, Star. Sorry." Cyborg smiled sheepishly, a green dog bounding in after him.

"So. . ." Beast Boy morphed back into himself, looking disheveled and extremely unhappy. "Any idea what psycho freak woke me from one of the BEST dreams EVER!"

"What were you dreaming of?" Cyborg asked curiously. "It wasn't that giant tofu pizza dream again, was it?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened in shock. "How did you know about that one!" He squeaked, agitated, "You weren't sneaking into my room again, were you!"

"N-no!" Cyborg winced sheepishly. "Well. . .yeah. But I was just pickin' up the game you borrowed the other night, 'kay? I just happened to see you layin' there, eating your pillow in your sleep."

"And the picture in my possession of you nibbling on your 'tofu pizza' is most adorable!" Starfire giggled as Beast Boy turned a deep red.

"You guys are so evil! You better burn that picture, Star!" The Tamaranean only smiled in response.

They all turned at the sound of the main den door sliding open, revealing a somewhat calm Robin. Silence immediately fell among the three Titans standing before him.

"I checked all the rooms and everything seems to be okay. Nothing's gone. Now what bugs me, is that the outside alarms weren't tripped. Something happened inside the tower." Robin looked at them silently. His brow furrowed in puzzlement as he noticed that one Titan was missing. "Hey, where's Raven?"

"We thought she was with you." Cyborg replied with a confused look. Beast Boy shrugged, stifling a yawn.

"I thought you said everyone was _present and account for_." Robin snapped with a frown.

"Like I said; we thought she was with you, man."

Beast Boy looked from one serious face to another, sighing tiredly as he turned on his heel slowly.

"I'm not knocking."


	6. Genesis

**Ch. 5: Genesis**

**XXXXXX**

_What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.  
T.S. Eliot_

**XXXXXX**

"Raven?" It was the fourth time they had called her. Her communicator wasn't responding, and neither was she. Robin sighed, finally turning to Cyborg with a nod. "Go ahead."

Cyborg barely tapped the door, the large slab giving way as it fell inwards with a resounding boom. He winced, small puffs of dust dancing around the fallen door as they all glanced into the dark of Raven's room.

"Raven?" They were hesitent to step inside, knowing that doing so was to incur her her deadly wrath. As leader, Robin stepped in first, shocked at the sigh before him.

Everything was broken, shattered, and strewn haphazardly around the dark room. The bed was slashed to ribbons and what was the frame was bent into odd angles, some parts dangling weakly from their connecting parts on the bed. A single metal bit of the leg protruded from the large window besides the bed, a vein-like spider web of cracks surrounding it. Pieces of a mirror lay scattered among the ruins reflecting the light from the hallway like tiny stars. Pages were ripped and books resembled pieces of a puzzle, the statuette she kept of the drama faces smashed among the remains of her room.

It sent a shiver down the Titans' backs as their focus settled on the broken statuette. The half that had the large grin sat almost unscathed in the middle of the chaos. And as Robin gathered the courage to pick it up, he saw the dark liquid that looked like it had leaked out of the hollow eye. Its counterpart was smashed to pieces except for the large mouth, in which were deep red fingerprints smeared in random pattern.

"Robin." Starfire whispered as she looked at the thin red rivulet running from the smiling mask, "Look."

The Boy Wonder dabbed his gloved finger over the liquid, raising it to the light Cyborg offered with a flashlight.

"It's. . . It's blood." Robin answered in a whisper. Starfire gasped, dropping the pages she had gathered in her arms. She unconsciously took a step back away from it.

"Hey guys. . . look at this." Cyborg beckoned them to the bureau, picking up the torn page there. The date in the corner was smudged and totally unreadable, so he skipped it and instead read aloud in the light of his portable flashlight.

**XXXXX**

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry I even thought about it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really am. But it's too late now. I'm scared. I know she's coming. I can see her wherever I go. She's always watching me, waiting for me to give in and lose control. She sees me and waits. She doesn't care that she has to wait. She knows she has me trapped. She knows that I know. And she's everywhere._

_She's in the mirror. . ._

_She's in the water. . ._

_She's in my head. . ._

_And she's waiting._

**XXXXXXX**

Silence settled among them, Starfire shivering in the dark.

"Okay then. That doesn't help much." Beast Boy's voice wavered, his nervous chuckle dying away. "Uh, can we get out now?"

"No." Robin stated surely. "We have to find out what's going on. Cyborg can I see that for a moment?" Cyborg nodded, handing the page to him and shining his flashlight on it.

After a bit of quiet, Robin shook his head. "It's not Raven's writing."

"Then who's would it be? I'm pretty sure that none of us wrote this, right?" All of them agreed with a nod. "Any ideas?"

"What if it's just a poem?" Cyborg suggested.

"Nah, Raven writes in rhymes." They all turned in surprise to Beast Boy, who shrank guiltily under their surprised stares. "I uh, might've been an ant on her shoulder when she was writing? Heh. . . . yeah." He put a head behind his head, turning and ignoring the strange stares as he picked up a ripped book and began to flip idly through its pages.

"That's not getting us anywhere." Robin said, sighing.

"No kidding." Cyborg added. Starfire nodded, crossing her arms in worry.

"Should we not then, retreat to the den for a 'brainstorming'? We will do Raven no good if our minds are hanging over."

Robin turned to her with a chuckle. "It's a hangover, Star. And that's only for when you get drunk. I still think you're right though. Maybe a bit of a late snack could do us some good."

"Dude, skip the snack." Beast Boy said with a queasy look. ""I think I'll just go and sit."

"Yeah, same here. And maybe we can gather more clues in the daylight when it's brighter. Sunrise isn't too far off." Cyborg added. Agreeing, they all began to file out, careful not to step on anything that looked like it could posibbly be a useful clue. It was an awkward balance act as they managed to get out one by one, Until Beast Boy was the last one still remaining in the room.

He followed Cyborg as they snaked past the books and scattered remains, wincing as he heard the crack of a piece of broken mirror under his foot. Looking down, he shivered as he noticed the reflection. It was as if it had wanted to be seen by him, and the shock numbed him as he stood frozen.

"Hey Cy?" Cyborg turned.

"Yeah?" Beast Boy only pointed at the bookcase that had miraculously managed to stay up against the wall, the shelves on angles and the remaining books leaning on the lower end. But what caught the two Titan's attention stood on the high end of the highest shelf, which seemed impossible because of its steep angle.

Nonetheless, staring calmly back at them, stood a little crow with four red eyes.


	7. Lost

**Ch.7: Lost**

* * *

_We wander these halls like the pale ghosts of yesterday. We are the past, we are the present. . ._

_We are the lost._

_**Diary of me (self quote)**_

* * *

"Mommy?" Her small feet were cold against the stone tiled floors as she walked, a shiver running down her spine and goose bumps lifting on her ashen skin underneath the soft cotton of her nightdress. 

Where was mommy? Why didn't she answer?

The little girl continued down the halls, more afraid of not hearing her mother's voice than having monsters jump out at her from the shadows. Not that she didn't put it past them, but she knew them well enough to know most were still sleeping at such an early hour.

"Mommy?" She called out louder.

Her voice eerily died away into the silence of the dark halls as she waited for a response, her violet eyes watching the intricately carved wood of the door. She could feel the cold seeping into her skin as she padded quietly on the tiled floor, her knees weak as she continued in the strange cold of the darkened halls.

Oh, how she wished she had brought Teddy along with her! At least he would keep her company in these wretchedly long, empty halls. And even though he was blind, she was sure he would be glad that he couldn't see the darkness around him.

That's why she had ripped out the small black beads that made his eyes.

"Where are you mommy?" Her violet eyes were slowly tearing up as she got closer to her mother's door. Her stride became longer with urgency, her small hands clutching together at her chest. Each breath she took was becoming more erratic as nervousness began clinging to her soul like the curling tendrils of death itself. Sweat began to bead her temples as her mouth opened slightly to let more air into her caving lungs, her heart thumping so loudly she could've sworn that the sound it made echoed loudly off of the walls.

Would the monsters wake?

Mommy always answered before little Raven made it to her bedroom! Where was she! Was she even still breathing! What if a monster got to her!

"Mommy!" She cried, breaking suddenly into a run and slamming herself into the door of her mother's bedroom, "Mommy are you okay!"

Her hands clenched into tiny fists that she banged into the harsh wood of the door, not caring that the carvings were digging into the sides of her palms or that her voice would wake the sleeping beasts. Fear spurned on her wild banging as her mouth opened in desperate cries for her mother with tears streaming down her small face. Her heartbeat rung in her ears, blind horror in every word and action she took as her cries echoed down the empty halls. They bounced horribly around her, mixing with the sound of her hurried heartbeat and causing a harmony of dread to pound against her pulsing head.

_Mommy hates you._

No, no she didn't! Mommy couldn't hate her!

As she banged on the door, her heart plunged into the pit of her stomach.

Or did she?

**"MOMMY!"**

* * *

Robin awoke with a start, feeling a deep sense of dread overcome him. He tried to sit up, suddenly regretting the action as a wave of nausea hit him completely. His mind reeled and he could hear his heart pounding away painfully in his ears as he felt a horrid taste forming in the back of his throat, scorching it with the acidic bile. Clamping his jaw tightly, he slowly fell back into the pillows. 

Putting a gloved hand up to his forehead and trying to steady his breathing, he closed his eyes as he heard his breath leaving in a heavy sigh.

"Sssh, you've been through a lot." He heard water being splashed around in a container and then a cool, damp cloth was brought up against his forehead. Slowly, the pulsing was dying down, leaving behind a dull ache behind his eyes.

"What happened?" His voice sounded as if it hadn't been used in ages, coming out in a barely controlled croak. The inside of his mouth felt dry and as if it had been stuffed with cotton balls for the last couple years. His jaw muscles were heavy and numb from being locked in place for so long, and it took him a moment to realize how truly out of it he felt.

"I told you not to speak," The voice was gentle, chiding him like a worried mother, "now drink this." A cold hand slipped in at the nape of his neck, helping him raise his heavy head up. Robin craned his neck to find the edge of a mug brought up to his lips. As he took the first swallow, he grimaced. As soon as it had hit the back of his tongue, the bitter liquid seemed to fizz and sting his poor throat. He sputtered a bit, quivering with each attempt to suppress a series of coughs that threatened to turn into vomiting as the vile liquid twisted his inside in horrible knots.

"I know it doesn't taste well, but it'll help a lot more than any normal medicine." Robin was placed gently back into place, his breaths somewhat ragged as he tried to understand what was happening.

And that voice. . . It wasn't the first time he had heard that tone.

His mind whirled for a second until it made the connection.

"Raven?" He mumbled.

Slowly, his mind began to clear up and memories came rushing back.

"Where were you? Where are the oth-"

"Sshh." She said once more, bringing a finger to his lips. "You are not fully recovered yet. If you strain your body too much, it'll have some very serious repercussions. Sleep, Robin. I'll stay right here until you wake up."

Her violet eyes met his own masked ones, and for once he couldn't really object to her motherly orders. Nonetheless, he tried anyway. "But-"

"The others will be fine for a little while." She interjected calmly. Though Robin knew he needed the sleep, he felt he couldn't really rest until he knew the others were safe and sound. But his mind was getting fuzzy again. . . . And the way his limbs began to feel heavier wasn't helping.

"Robin, look at me." Raven tilted his chin slightly so that their eyes met. "You have to sleep. You're in no condition to help anyone if you can't even help yourself. Please," She prodded him gently, "Listen to me Robin."

How could he say no to his tired limbs that screamed to be left alone, if only for a little while? And even if he tried not to, his mind was already shutting itself off, his eyelids automatically feeling ten times heavier than the largest slab of cement.

What small resistance he had had crumbled away, his body finally giving in as a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

Raven watched him silently from her perch beside the couch, her face calm as Robin's breaths began to even out. After a few moments of silence she sighed, slipping out a thin hand from beneath the confines of her yellow cloak as the last of Robin's consciousness slipped away. In her grasp was a set of black rimmed glasses.

Putting them on slowly, her eyes never really left the sleeping form of her leader on the couch. Her lips were pursed in a grim line, her posture straight and unwavering in grace.

Wisdom didn't even flinch as she saw the sun begin to set, darkness falling quicker than it should have in a normal world. In the span of three minutes at most, the sun had left completely, fog beginning to overtake what small sliver of the moon had been revealed.

In the distance, a siren let out a lowly wail of warning, soon being joined by two companions whose calls echoed from farther away.

Far down the hall, behind the closed den door she heard a loud clattering and then the sickening sound of metal being dragged across the stainless floors of the halls.

"And so. . ." Raven's emotion whispered into the confines of the room, "Here it begins."


	8. Freak

**

* * *

Ch.8: Freak **

* * *

"_Darkness falls across the land,_

_The midnight hour is close at hand._

_Creatures crawl in search of blood,_

_To terrorize y'awl's neighborhood . . ._

_And whosoever shall be found,_

_without the soul for getting down,_

_Must stand and face the hounds of hell,_

_And rot inside a corpse's shell._

_The foulest stench is in the air-_

_The funk of forty thousand years._

_And grizzly ghouls from every tomb_

_Are closing in to seal your doom,_

_And though you fight to stay alive,_

_Your body starts to shiver._

_For No Mere Mortal Can Resist . . . _

_The Evil Of The Thriller."_

_** -Michael Jackson "Thriller"**_

* * *

_Crunch. . ._

_Step. . ._

_Crunch. . ._

She could feel every small pebble under her worn sneakers.

The November air was chilly, bringing with it the loud crackle of leaves as she made it to the entrance gate of the local Jump City High School. She halted by the thick steel bars of the tall surrounding fence, looking up at the large drably decorated building. Even the "Homecoming 2007!" banner hanging and fluttering in the dying whispers of the wind seemed to not feel as happy as its' cheery blue and white colors claimed.

The silence was loud. Even when the breeze stirred, it carried with it only a few lazy leaves that scattered and flew about the brunette in a whirling breeze.

"_Kill her_." The dancing leaves whispered.

And though she greatly agreed with them, she suppressed her anger and waited, watching the front double doors of the building. Last she had checked the time, it had been ten minutes to three.

Ten minutes.

Only ten minutes and she would have the little witch within reach.

_Angie. . ._

Frowning, the seventeen year old ignored the voice that called her name. Her brown eyes narrowed, a frown forming on her features as her hands wrapped her thin windbreaker tighter around her, the fabric bunching in her tense fists.

_Angie. . ._

Stubbornly facing the door, she ignored the echo of the voice in her mind. She didn't feel like talking to him at the moment. He didn't (and would never) understand. Right now, all he was doing was making matters worse.

Sighing, she watched the large puff of heated breath turn invisible and dissipate before her. Five more minutes at most was her guess.

_Don't harm her, you know what needs to be done._

If his insistent nagging before hadn't been enough, now it definitely made her snap. The blood boiled in her veins, a growl forming in the back of her throat as she trembled in barely contained fury.

"Fuck you." She hissed, her voice quivering. "If you didn't want me to hurt her, you should've come yourself!"

She could almost hear the sigh in his voice, to which she couldn't help but smirk devilishly in delight. She knew she was right, and it seemed that so did he. Of course though, he wasn't going to admit it. It had been a stupid move to send her after Terra, knowing the past that was suppressed between them. But he would die before he ever admitted she was right.

This coming from the same guy who had claimed that she had serious pride issues.

She relished the thought and wouldn't miss the rare opportunity to rub it all over his sorry face. Indeed, he would be hearing about this for quite some time. She would be sure to be the one to do it.

_Brrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!_

The school bell stole her roughly of her mental victory. And as her eyes shot to the front door, her previous thoughts became lost like the breaths of the students as they talked animatedly, rushing to get as far away from campus as possible. Her smirk twisted into a scowl, her hands falling to her sides as her usually soft brown eyes narrowed coldly.

The familiar crown of blonde hair wasn't hard to spot in the crowd seeing as she was one of the last to come out. She always was. Her friends chattered away beside her, the blonde simply letting her gaze follow the conversation from person to person with a smile. Once in a while she would add her own opinion, laughing happily as her shoulders shook from mirth.

The cold didn't seem to matter anymore to the brunette watching her.

"TERRA!" The blonde turned instinctively, her blue eyes searching for the voice. It was as she began to sweep the crowd of students mulling about that she realized that they hadn't called her name, but someone else's. Feeling stupid, she turned back to her friends. Still, hadn't someone called her by that name before?

"TURN AROUND YOU STUPID WENCH!"

Turning, she jerked her head around, now positive they were talking to her. It wasn't that she had a bad rep and was called a wench before, but somehow, she just _knew _that it was aimed at her. Her friends stopped beside her, looking at her strangely as their conversation cut off.

"Something wrong?" The redhead beside her asked.

"Didn't you hear that?" She grit out in exasperation. "I think that Beast Boy kid has a weirdo friend who came by for a visit."

"Someone calling you 'Terra' again?" Her friend asked, now fully alert. Her eyes shifted uneasily from student to student in the crowd. "Where? I don't see anyone strange."

"I don't know." The blonde replied nervously.

"Right in front of you, idiot."

She jumped, dropping the binder she had been clutching and a yelp escaping her mouth.

"What, what is it?" Her friend asked, grabbing her shoulder and nudging her. The blonde was rooted to the spot.

"She's right here, right in front of me!" The blonde responded in exasperation, jerking an index finger to the brunette.

The redhead's gaze went to the spot where Angie stood, a strange look coming onto her features that seemed between a frown of worry and a narrow-eyed look of confusion.

"Hello, there." Angie said in an overly sweetened voice.

"There's no one there." Her friend responded irately, not liking being yelled at. "What the heck is wrong with you, girl? Has geometry driven you so nuts you're seeing things?"

"Terra" let her jaw drop as she turned to her friend. "What do you mean you can't see her, she's right here! She just freaking said hi to us!"

Angie giggled, smirking.

Her friend's response wasn't so nice either.

"We really gotta get you home, sweetie, I think you need a trip to the doctor's if your hallucinations are this bad. Stress probably got to ya'."

"No, but Mallorie, really I-"

"Need to go get a check up and some sleep." Her friend finished, bending down to grab the forgotten binder and handing it to the blonde.

"Yeah Terra," Angie quipped with a sickeningly sweet grin, "Go home and rest that empty blonde head of yours, you'll need it."

"Shut up!" The blonde hissed at Angie. Mallorie's eyes widened as she jumped away from her friend in surprise. By now, the few students that had lingered were now staring at them. Fear kept Mallorie rooted to the spot as she watched the blonde fight with some invisible person.

""What do you WANT?!" She yelled in exasperation. "I told you I have NO idea who this Terra girl is! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Angie threw her head back and laughed. "You look so funny, you know that? Talking to yourself and all."

"What are you talking about?! I'm talking to _you_!" Angie raised a brow, looking around at the crowd they had gathered.

"I dunno." She said with a shrug. "They seem to be watching you and your demented babblings about someone standing in front of you."

The blonde looked around, her eyes scanning the crowd.

"Don't you see her?" She asked, jabbing a pointing finger to the other girl before her. "She's right freaking there! Are you blind or something?!"

The looks they were giving her weren't reassuring.

"No, they're not blind, Terra." Angie answered, coming closer to the blonde. "You see, normal people can't see me. Only those who have been near death could see me. Not movie deaths, not 'I squished an ant' deaths, but actual deaths that wrench at their hearts and make them feel responsible. Only those with blood on their hands can see me, Terra."

"I never killed anyone!" The blonde retorted, totally forgetting the crowd around her.

"Are you so sure?" Angie asked, her gaze flicking to the other girl's hands as she raised a questioning eyebrow. "I would suggest you check again."

Furrowing her brow, the blonde's blue eyes fell to the pale hands she raised, her eyebrows sliding up on her forehead as her mouth opened and she began to tremble. Her voice died in her throat, stopping the retort that tried to come out as she stared at her dirty hands openly, fear forming in her core and seeping into her veins as her heartbeat became faster and her breathing erratic.

On her hands were stains of blood.

They seemed to be in layers, some clotted and dry with a deep dirt brown, others warm and sticky with a vibrant red upon them. And some seemed to be in the stages of drying.

By looking at their color and feeling their stickiness upon her numb, trembling fingers, she could tell how old they were. Some looked ancient, having become a part of her hands. Others had seeped into the crevices of her hands, lining the underside of her short nails with the thick red liquid. Some of the caked blood fell off in snowy flakes as she ran a quivering and awed fingertip over her open left palm.

"Told you so." Angie said, looking at the blonde with evident smugness and pleasure.

Looking up at her, Terra stood in shock, her voice completely useless and trapped at the back of her throat. Her eyes fell to the people behind her and a squeak escaped her open mouth, her steps clumsy as she tried to put distance between them and her.

The crowd wasn't of students anymore, but of people whom she had never seen before in her life. They watched her silently, covered in head to toe with dust, ashes, or even dirt. Some looked like they had been burned alive, others buried under mounds of earth, and others yet looked almost completely normal, had they not been missing limbs or chunks of themselves in odd places, their innards revealed and quivering; even spilling onto the concrete with nauseatingly wet slaps.

A child among them was missing part of her side, a white rib revealed under torn flesh and the bloody remains of a lilac Sunday dress. One of her light blue eyes had a gash running right through the eyelid that covered it, blood running freely down her cheek as she stood silently, clutching an old bear with one button eye that seemed to be staring at her as well.

"Aren't they sweet?" Angie said, smiling. "They came to say hi!"

The brunette seemed to melt into the crowd that surrounded her, the corpses coming forward and closing in on Terra ever so slowly as she trembled and began to scream. No matter where she turned, they were there, reaching out to touch her. Flinging her arms frantically, she tried to make them go away, pushing and shoving as they grabbed at her, pulling her hair, and brushing cold hands over her skin. Their moans and desperate calls echoed all around her, drowning out her own voice in the sea of confusion.

"MAKE THEM STOP!" She yelled desperately, tears streaming down her face, "PLEASE, GO **AWAY**!"

As she said this, the ground began to tremble and jagged pieces of stone shot out of the ground, breaking some of the corpses with sickening crunches of bone and snaps. The others that remained were knocked off of their feet.

Terra stood in the midst of it all, wide-eyed and silent. Her eyes landed on the little girl she had seen before and she watched her in fascination and horror as she realized that the child was still moving.

The little girl lay on the ground, her dress (if possible) more tattered and ruined than before. Her right leg had a large gash down the outside of her shin, running from her knee to her ankle where frayed bits of her sock stuck to her bloody limb.

Terra could see the white of a bone showing between layers of bloody tissue and veins that still pulsated with life, spilling blood onto the dirty concrete. The cut down her left eyelid had reopened, spilling new blood down her cheek as if it were tears. Her other eye was desperately searching for something, shockingly calm and oblivious to the condition she was currently in.

One blue eye roamed around her as she searched desperately, relief flooding her tiny pale face with a delighted smile on her dead blue lips. Her broken left arm reached at a strange angle to get the bear that lay a few inches away.

Terra fell to her knees, trembling uncontrollably and daring to look at the person that remained standing before her.

"What do you want from me?" She managed to let out in a strangled squeak.

Angie looked at her for a second, her brown eyes then falling to the little girl who still couldn't reach her bear. Sighing, she stepped over some of the other twitching corpses, gently nudging a severed leg out of her way as she knelt slowly beside the girl, pushing the tattered bear into the girl's awaiting grasp. Smiling, Angie swept a stray bang from the little girl's grimy face gently, getting up in one fluid motion and heading for Terra.

The blonde dared not move for fear of touching one of the bodies littering the area, but she cowered away unconsciously nonetheless as she waited for an answer.

"What we want," Angie began, looking down at her with an even gaze, "Is for you to repay your debt, Terra."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She grit out, taking in hiccupping gasps. Her stomach threatened to turn itself inside out from the sickening sight around her. And the smells of rotting corpses weren't helping either. And the sight of an old woman giving a loud burping noise and spewing blood from her mouth as her wide, empty eyes looked at the sky only served to twist her stomach more painfully.

"Don't you worry that pretty little empty blonde head of yours." Angie replied in an overly peppy voice, "I can take care of that."

A shiver ran up Terra's spine at the smile offered to her.

Raising an open hand, Angie's eyes locked with Terra's blue ones as the brunette swept her hand in a small circle, closing it into a fist as it reached the bottom of the O she formed in the air.

At the same time, Terra's head met the ground, her eyes closed and her breathing even as she fell into an awkward position. To Angie's delight, it looked quite painful- at least it would be when she woke up.

The blood now plastering her blonde hair to the left side of her face was just an added bonus.

"Sweet dreams, sleeping beauty." Angie said, watching the unconscious young woman before her with a cold smile on her face. "May Saint Josephine find you and _burn _your twisted soul."

Turning calmly, she left her companion there as she began to lead the angered souls around her, the little girl crying in pain as Angie tried to pick her up gently. She didn't flinch as she watched the souls sluggishly get up, most of them looking for a lost appendage on the ground with small groans of pain and frustration.

One was trying to put slippery entrails back within the confines of his hole-riddled stomach.

The little girl whimpered in Angie's grasp, pulling the bear closer as she buried her face in the young woman's chest. Deep in her heart, Angie felt her heart wrench as she swallowed a lump in her throat, her eyes roaming around the grisly scene as her vision began to blur.

"Don't worry," Angie whispered in a painful and quivering voice. She gently but firmly hugged the small dead child. "She'll pay for what she did."

Tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I promise."

* * *

Green eyes opened gradually, the redhead's senses coming sluggishly out of their slumber. 

As her mind began to click into being, Starfire sat up on the bed she lay on, a hand coming to her gently throbbing head. The room seemed to spin for a moment as a groan escaped from her lips and she forced herself to try and focus.

Slowly, the room began to take form into shapes that became refined with minute details. The first thing she realized was how simple the room was.

The paint job was minimal, reminding her of the walls in the corridors of hospitals. The room itself contained a wooden bed in one corner with white sheets (adorned with gold curly flower print) and a white desk across from it that held books, papers, and two rag dolls in the far left corner- one of a boy in a striped turtleneck and black pants and the other of a pale skinned girl in a dress with red shoes and her yarn hair braided in two.

Standing out beside the desk like a sore thumb was the pink three-legged chair that looked strange in design to Starfire, yet somehow managed to match the shade of the curtains on the windows and the lampshade to the light that stood about four feet tall and currently off beside the bed.

A few paces from the foot of the bed was a half-opened door (painted a dull white) revealing a bathroom with the same victorian-esque color scheme in shades of porcelain white and flowery golds. To the right of that entrance was another door, open just enough to reveal a little piece of a hallway.

Starfire blinked, her mind still fuzzy and trying to make connections that just wouldn't form. Nothing made sense to her at the moment and she almost doubted that even her motor skills could really respond in her current state. Flexing her fingers, she watched her limbs curl and uncurl with scrutiny, satisfied that they indeed worked fine for the moment. Her toes did as well.

It was as she was testing those that she noticed light from the corner of her right eye.

Turning, she found it to be coming from an opening in the curtains. Tilting her head slightly for a better view, she saw a bit of a grimy window from which she could just barely make out some grass shoots and the beginnings of a sidewalk edge. Other than that, whatever buildings she could've possibly seen were obscured by a thick fog that clung to everything like a suffocating blanket.

Even from inside the bedroom she unconsciously brought a hand to her neck, taking in a greedy breath through her nose as if the fog would snake into her lungs like a horrid syrupy liquid. There was a frown on her features.

Back on Tamaran, fog was never a good thing. And no matter how harmless it seemed here on Earth, she could never really get used to it. It made her nervous and jumpy no matter how much the others insisted on its harmlessness.

Tearing her emerald eyes away from the small view of the outside world, she came to the unnerving realization that there was nothing to indicate where she was. All she knew was that she was in someone's home, still situated somewhere on Earth (this of course deduced immediately by décor).

Even as she sat there it seemed wrong to break the silence of the place. It wasn't a scary silence, but it wasn't _normal_ either. It was just . . . well . . . _silence_. But if she really strained her ears, she could hear a soft ticking; like that of some sort of time keeping instrument.

Needless to say, she refused to be ungrateful to whomever had taken her into their home (no matter how drab and dreary it seemed) and she finally mustered up the nerve to get up with the intention of finding the owner of the place and thanking them for their generosity towards her.

She shuffled quietly to the door that led out, opening it wider silently and poking her head through.

The hallway with striped pink and cream-colored wallpaper was narrow and immediately widened into a living room and kitchen area. There were pictures on the walls of landscapes and crayon drawings of a man. This she could tell by the same colors and basic features that were repetitive in each framed drawing.

She shuffled out to the living room quietly, coming up behind the single lounge chair facing away from her towards the television set on the opposite wall. Besides the set were large deck doors leading out to the fog that she avoided looking at directly.

It all seemed undisturbed and as if no one were home.

If she stayed in the room, there was a possibility that she's grow bored quickly and fall asleep. At least here, she felt she had a better ability to stay awake long enough to await the owner's return to thank them and ask where she was.

Falling on this as the best decision, she pulled out her communicator and flipped it open. Pressing a button she-

_KSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!_

She screamed loudly and dropped the device as if it had burned her in the sudden shock. Putting a hand over her chest, she tried to calm down her breathing as her mind made the connection that the communicator was probably out of range and that it was killing her ears. With a swift hand she picked it up and closed it, sighing in relief as her eyelids fell over her eyes momentarily.

And then she smelled it.

It was faint but it was there . . . and it unnerved her.

Opening her eyes, she looked around the living room from where she was. Not a single spot of it anywhere, it seemed. Yet the smell lingered, clinging to her nostrils almost as heavily as the fog had her throat.

Closing her eyes, she tried to pinpoint it. She took a step back. Two, three. . . No, the smell went farther away when she did that. Starfire retreated to the spot she had been before and opened her eyes once more. It was either beneath her or . . .

The couch?

She looked at the recliner in front of her, her red brows furrowing over her eyes as she slowly walked around it to the front.

And that was where it was.

She gasped, flinching as she jerked back from it. The back of it had been clean. But here in the front were stains of brownish red all over it as if a dying person had seen there last breath on it.

And that wasn't all of it.

She had failed to see the thin trail before; tiny droplets that stood out now on the wooden floors in thick little puddles that led to a closed off door she had shrugged off in her first exploration of the room.

Trembling, she slowly inched towards the door, afraid of what she would find there, yet knowing that if she didn't look she would never forgive herself. What if someone was dying in there? What if they were attacked by an enemy that she needed to find?

Her hand slowly lifted to the knob but she found it hard to make her fingers close around it. She stared at it for what seemed eternity, her breaths coming in hitched gasps that she couldn't stand anymore.

So she turned the knob and pushed the door inwards.

It squeaked loudly as it slid on its hinges, making her flinch, yet allowing her a full view of the bed opposite from where she was standing.

_What . . .? _

It was white and long. . . there were flowers sitting near the top, hiding some of the large red stain underneath it.

_What is . . .? _

At first she was confused; from where she stood it seemed like a white mound with flowers and much red. And she would've left it at that-she _should've_ left it at that.

But there was _something_ about it . . . some twisted fascination of her mind, a curiosity that was insatiable when it came to such things that nagged at her now and nudged her forward.

The redhead gave it a wide berth as she tried to go to the side for a better view of whatever it was. And yet she somehow knew already. Some part of her _knew_.

But some strange desire made her want to _see_.

She stood in numb shock for a moment, a feeble squeak escaping her lips as she stood there stupidly, looking at what she needn't see, yet _wanted_ to see. The smell entered her nostrils forcefully like the hands of death itself, filling her completely with the stench of blood and decaying flesh- of rotting meat and what seemed to be rotten eggs left in a lowly dumpster.

Her stomach threatened to overturn itself then and she began hacking as her skin went clammy and she doubled over to relieve her stomach of its meager contents. Coughing and wrenching, and between every dip of her being she looked up to see it still there, unmoving in its stained sheets and mocking her with its pungent odor of decay.

A body.

A _dead_ body.

It lay there, a full-grown person covered in a thin white sheet with bloodstains all over it. There were white flowers placed over the mound that would be two arms crossed over the person's chest, the gruesome and stomach wrenching smell of death and reeking blood hitting her full-frontal and leaving her coughing and burping as her stomach tried to return what it didn't have anymore and only added to the horrid scene before her.

It was then that she slammed painfully back into herself, the shock wearing off as realization dawned on her horrified features in a single torturous second. Tears stung her eyes as they widened and she gave a gasping moan.

"Robin. . ." She cried out in a harsh whisper, her body shaking uncontrollably. She backed away from it as far as she could go, her back hitting the wall as she slid down painfully to the ground, wiping at her mouth with the back of one hand.

She needed to get out.

The smell was filling her and clinging to her as if it were alive; she could almost feel it _clawing_ at her, leaving scratch marks on her arm and it made her throw a wild punch out at the air. This place was so suffocating, so _intoxicating_.

She need out . . . **_NOW_**.

It was enough to send her into a panic driven crawl that was clumsy but somehow helped her drag herself across to the door. She was about halfway there when her communicator fell from her side, opening and emitting the harsh static from before.

_KSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!_

She covered her ears then, stopping and clenching her jaw tightly. Her hands weren't helping at all to get rid of some of the noise, and dear God, when did the communicator get so _loud_?

But then she heard it.

At first she thought it was a figment of her imagination. With the environment she was in, she wouldn't be surprised. But it slowly got louder, then softer, then louder again, sometimes even breaking through the static.

A moan.

She didn't realize when her hands began to come off of her ears, or when her emerald eyes fell on the device beside her. It was like she was waiting for it then; almost like when prey stood stock-still and did nothing but listen—not even breathe.

_KSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. . . . uuuuuuuuooooooohhhhhh. . . . uuuusssssssshhhhhhhhhhh_.

There.

There it was again.

She reached for the device, clasping it with unsteady hands as she slowly got onto her feet. Looking one last time at the body, she inched out of the room.

KssssssssSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

She jumped at the sudden change in volume.

_UUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! _

The front door burst open then, a young woman running through and slamming it shut. She looked at Starfire, grabbing her by the arm and wrenching her to the patio doors.

"I don't have any bullets left in this thing!" She said as she unlocked the door with clumsy fingers, handing the pistol she held to the confused girl beside her. Starfire noticed the girl's nervous look to the front door and looked back herself with nervous anticipation, holding the gun and communicator with trembling hands.

Her question was soon answered as the door shook with a loud bang as if something had been slammed against it.

"FUCK!" The young woman's movements became hastier as she wrenched the sliding door open, diving through and jerking Starfire along with her into the fog.

"Close it, close it!" She yelled, trying to slide the stubborn door back in place as the front door was stabbed with a giant sword. Starfire helped and together they got it nearly back in place, the Tamaranean stopping for one last glance at what was breaking through the door.

A thick arm reached through the jagged hole previously made, grasping as if to capture something within and then retreated. The young woman took Starfire's wrist in her grip, pulling her away from the scene as they ran into the fog of the afternoon.

"Who was that?" She asked the young woman breathlessly, dazed and overwhelmed with everything that had happened.

The girl turned to her, her light green eyes falling onto Starfire's wide ones.

"Not _who_." She answered, still running at a steady pace, "But _what_."

Starfire sobered immediately, falling silent as they ran. Her steps gained a sudden adrenaline jump of fear as her companion pulled her urgently through the maze of streets she didn't recognize, totally confusing her internal compass.

It was as they ran down a main street that her eye caught on a sign in one of the shop windows through a clearing in the fog—almost like it _wanted_ to be seen.

_**Welcome**, _it said formerly.

And below that, was the obvious **_to_** in small print, followed by what she had been searching for. It took her a second to put the whole statement together in her mind as she tried to digest the new information as she ran.

_**Welcome to Silent Hill. **_


End file.
